Mostly new faces apply for PPP tickets in KP

PESHAWAR: The majority of candidates, who appeared before the parliamentary board of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for seeking tickets to contest the upcoming general election for 35 National Assembly and 99 provincial assembly constituencies were new faces.

The board may announce the names of the candidates in the first week of June.

The parliamentary board comprising Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Farhatullah Babar, party provincial president Humayun Khan, Faisal Karim Kundi, Syed Zahir Ali Shah, Masood Kausar, Sardar Ali Khan, former MNAs, Najmuddin Khan and Akhunzada Chattan, Rahimdad Khan and Nighat Orakzai interviewed candidates within two days.

The parliamentary board interviewed candidates from Peshawar, Mardan, Hazara and Kohat divisions.

The aspirants for PPP tickets belonging to other divisions including the newly merged Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Malakand division, minorities and women were also interviewed.

PPP Information Secretary Rubina Khalid said though she didn’t know about the exact number of candidates, all those who had applied for the tickets were invited to the interviews.

Office Secretary Tariq said the board had interviewed over 200 candidates and the remaining ones would be also interviewed. He said the number of candidates from Malakand division was higher than those of the other divisions.

A former PPP leader, who has had the experience of attending a meeting of the parliamentary board during Benazir Bhutto’s life, recalled that the divisional presidents would introduce the candidates to Shaheed Benazir Bhutto but in this meeting, the divisional presidents were not present.

He remembered that once a young candidate was introduced to Benazir Bhutto, who asked about his family background and financial position and convinced him that he should have strong financial position to contest the election against his influential opponents.

“The time was too short. Interviewing more than 200 candidates in one day is a difficult job. We understand some problems erupt when you interview so many people in a short time,” said another PPP leader.